] There has indeed been a dramatic and dangerous rise in
] religious fundamentalism in the Muslim world. The problem
] is that under the Likud Doctrine, there is no space to
] ask why this is happening. We are not allowed to point
] out that fundamentalism breeds in failed states, where
] warfare has systematically targeted civilian
] infrastructure, allowing the mosques start taking
] responsibility for everything from education to garbage
] collection. It has happened in Gaza, in Grozny, in Sadr
] City. Mr. Sharon says terrorism is an epidemic that
] %u201Chas no borders, no fences%u201D but this is not the
] case. Everywhere in the world, terrorism thrives within
] the illegitimate borders of occupation and dictatorship;
] it festers behind %u201Csecurity walls%u201D put up by
] imperial powers; it crosses those borders and climbs over
] those fences to explode inside the countries responsible
] for, or complicit in, occupation and domination.
]
] Ariel Sharon is not the commander in chief of the war on
] terror; that dubious honour stays with George Bush. But
] on the third year anniversary of September 11, he
] deserves to be recognized as this disastrous
] campaign%u2019s spiritual/intellectual guru, a kind of
] trigger-happy Yoda for all the wannabe Luke Skywalkers
] out there, training for their epic battles in good vs.
] evil.
]
] If we want to see the future of where the Likud Doctrine
] leads, we need only follow the guru home, to Israel
] %u2014 a country paralyzed by fear, embracing pariah
] policies of extrajudicial assassination and illegal
] settlement, and in furious denial about the brutality it
] commits daily. It is a nation surrounded by enemies and
] desperate for friends, a category it narrowly defines as
] those who ask no questions, while generously offering the
] same moral amnesty in return. That glimpse at our
] collective future is the only lesson the world needs to
] learn from Ariel Sharon.